Inspired by Sweet Potatoes

Deciding what to make for dinner can often be an indecisive circling that ends with frustration and spaghetti with pesto. Some people plan their meals a week ahead. Once in a blue moon I get myself together enough to do that. My pantry however is fairly well stocked and once I do decide on something I usually only need to pick up an extra thing or two, usually fresh vegetables or meat.

Most of the time when I’m inspired to cook, I’m inspired by a single ingredient or dish and then I scour my cookbooks or epicurious.com for supporting dishes. I usually consider the meal as whole and try to balance taste, colour and texture. Rarely do I discuss the fact that I try to balance the colour of a meal. It’s pretty important to me but I feel it’s a bit of a personal quirk. I’m also not a stickler for following a recipe, especially with foods that I feel familiar with, and I feel free to substitute and improvise. I do use and follow recipes, but that requires a little more planning and time.

For this meal, I started with two sweet potatoes that I purchased at lunch at the local Turkish vegetable shop. A quick search of epicurious yielded a recipe for Whipped Sweet Potatoes that sounded good. Next I wanted to use the blood oranges I had at home. Blood oranges were in season when I made this meal and I had been having them nearly everyday. (Aside: Fresh blood orange with cottage cheese!) Between epicurious, the internet at large and a porkchop consultation phonecall to Tiffany, I planned and made the following meal. All ingredient measurements are “add to taste”.

Blood Orange and Avocado Salad

avocado

blood orange supremes

red onion

habanero chili

brandy vinegar (I would have used limes if I had had any)

salt

Served on a bed of lettuce.

Whipped Sweet Potatoes

roasted sweet potatoes

butter

salt

chipotle en adobo

Seasoned Pork Chops

pork chops rubbed with a mixture of fleur de sel and five-spice powder, pan fried

Other than the sweet potatoes, I bought a ready-to-eat avocado and pork chops.

Verdict

The whipped sweet potatoes were amazing: smooth and slightly spicy with a hint of smoke. The orange and avocado salad was delicious but I think lime juice really was missing. The pork chops were a bit on the salty side for my taste but I think that might have been avoided if I’d seared them better.